Irwin's Journey 443: Overestimation

"You can't mean that," Baytim whispered.

Zou cocked her head, examining the younger Oxarite as if she wasn't sure what he was.

"I mean," Baytim continued, his voice rising in pitch. "She doesn't even want to talk to me!"

"So?" Zou asked. "You just have to go there and ask her some questions. I'm not asking you to figure out how to make her like you! We both know that's impossible."

Baytim looked at her in shock, and for a moment, a dangerous gleam grew in his eyes. It lasted for only a moment before vanishing while his shoulders slumped.

Interesting, so that's what Commander Breavin meant, Zou thought. 

She knew little about Baytim except for two things. The first was that he was supposedly even more sensitive to soulforce than she was, although only within a very short range. The second was that he'd been sent all the way to Cider Grove City because of his temper issues. According to his former Commander, he also had a tendency to disobey direct orders if they didn't fit into his rigid moral framework. Apparently, he'd caused a small riot within one of the smaller Oxarite cities for not wanting to use his carded skills against a group of young rebels. When Commander Breavin had eventually brought them in for questioning, Baytim had refused to cooperate again, going as far as striking the Commander. 

And now he's the leader of some small-time branch of the Bronzar Mercenary Group, she thought, examining him quietly. 

"You are going to ask her a bit about her brother," Zou said slowly. "I'm not asking you to spy, though if I did, I don't understand what the problem would be. What I'm asking you to do is figure out who they are, what they like, and if there's anything we can offer them to change his mind."

"He didn't even say he wouldn't help yet," Baytim said, crossing his arms. 

Zou watched him, actually impressed. It had been a long time since she'd met a handcarded that wouldn't just do as she said. 

It's a shame he isn't my type, she thought. It's so hard to find someone who is willing to stand up against me.

Her mood shifted as she thought about one of the other seven, a burly warrior with bright, happy eyes and a contagious laugh. 

Why did you have to join the wrong side? she thought angrily. 

"Baytim," she said, hearing the warning in her own voice.

The handcarded flinched, and Zou rained in her sudden anger.

"Why are you making it sound like I'm asking you to do something horrible?" she asked in a softer voice.

Baytim snorted, and she almost laughed. This guy seriously had no sense of fear, did he? 

"I like her, and if I do what you say, my chances are even smaller," he said.

Zou blinked, then focused on the mercenary leader. He was average in nearly every regard, and that was for one of those born in the northern parts of the empire. From what she'd heard, this Brecka was a full head taller, weighed twice as much, and likely had a soulcard. Exactly what chances did he even think he had?

Whatever… This dull blade has to go now, she thought, wanting to rub her head.

Irwin's sister was still moving stuff between those houses, but if she finished, it would be much harder to talk to them. Although their intelligence gathering was horrendous, the Viridians still kept a close eye on the happenings of the school district. Besides, Irwin had only just joined the school, so if they wanted to persuade him to leave again, it was best to do it now, before he was too settled.

"Fine, you know what?" she snapped, feeling her temper slip again. "Go to her, tell her you were asked to find out if there's anything you or the Empress can do to change her brother's mind. Be blunt."

Baytim frowned, and then his face cleared. "Alright!"

Before she could blink, he turned and began walking towards the door of his office. With an open mouth, she watched him leave the door open as he raced away.

"This guy is such a pain in the ass," she muttered, rubbing her head. "Ah, my Empress, why did you have to send me? You know how bad I am at this stuff."

There was no response, and she sat down behind Baytim's desk, wondering what she should do. 

--

Irwin had expected many teachers to be curious, but he hadn't expected all of them to be there. 

He looked around the large room, which had multiple step-like rows of long, curved seats. The two lower rows were filled with teachers, with more pouring in.  There were at least as many as there had been the day before, during the competition.

His mind went back to his long discussion with Flowrishin. She had said he was an anomaly to her, as most prospects lived in or around Cinder Grove. So, she wanted to see how he would teach a group of teachers before deciding which class he could handle. 

Irwin was pretty sure that the main reason was that she and the other teachers were just too curious.

"Tutor Irwin, you may begin," Flowrishin said from her position in the middle of the bottom row.

"Very well, headteacher Flowrishin," Irwin said, looking around the group.

It's a good thing she gave me a breakdown of what they do know, he thought. Or this would have been a lot more difficult.

"Seeing as some of you might not know me, I'm Cardsmith Irwin, and I'm the new Tutor," he said, speaking loud enough for his voice to easily fill the chamber. "Headteacher Flowrishin asked me to start with explaining a bit about my own cardsmithing style, but-" and he padded the simple anvil that stood next to him. "-my old teachers taught me that seeing is believing. So, let me give you a demonstration before we continue. That way, you all know I'm not just saying things."

Irwin saw Flowrishin frown, probably because she'd asked him to start with a simple lecture.

Sorry, but I need to make sure everyone here understands, he thought as he summoned his hammer.

There was a soft whisper through the hall as he pulled a card from his pocket and held it up.

"Now, this is a simple quartz card," he said. "It is called Candle Light, and it's a very simple utility card that allows someone to touch a small object, like a pebble, and have it glow for a few minutes. If you inspected it, it would say there are no types, but for those sensitive enough, you will find that it has a type inclination towards light and fire. Fire, being one of the basic types, means this card has a high potential for sideways reforging. However, light is a lot more restrictive, so that means I need to make a choice."

As he spoke, Irwin put the card on the anvil, humming softly.

"A card like this can be upgraded to Amethyst and sideways reforged to drop the light type, focusing on the fire one; however, its desired path is to use light. So, removing that will create a large imbalance in the card, making it increasingly harder to reforge it to a higher rank. For today, I'm going to keep the light inclination and use it to create a beam card." 

Irwin had already decided upon the song, so before he finished talking, the soft sound of his soulstrum guitar flitted through the classroom. He struck the card, causing the simple image of a candle flame to appear, hovering above a nondescript thumb-sized object. The familiarity of it made him think back to a night so many years ago now when he'd gotten his own first card. He knew now that he had been anything but a simple quartz card, but back then, he'd felt hopeless.

"As you can see, this card has a handful of condensed soulforce spots," he said, pointing at the dark smudges he'd long ago thought were imperfections. "These need to be smoothed out, the soulforce within it used to strengthen the card's resonance instead of being inconsistencies."

There were some mutters of agreement, which he ignored as he continued.

"Now, there are only four holes," he said, pointing at the tiny, brilliant pinpricks. "These need to be closed, preferably as fast as possible.  The problem is that we can't do both in the same reforging because it will put too much strain on the card's structure. The general rule here is to spread the condensed soulforce first and close the holes during the second reforging."

"Why?" someone called out. "I've had equal success with both!"

Irwin looked at an older Viridian. Having no idea what he was called, he nodded slowly.

"If the card is very delicate, closing the holes first can work well," he said. "However, if you don't spread the condensed soulforce first, you will always lose potential power."

The Viridian teacher nodded slowly, seeming to agree with him or otherwise, having no more questions.

"My smithing style is music and singing," Irwin said slowly. "Though I am also able to use strength and fire. That said, I prefer a combination of the first three, which I will demonstrate now."

He took a deep breath and began singing a simple song as he forced the quartz's cards' resonance to move along an alternate path. It's predisposed that one would let it create enormous beacon fires, but he had a different plan.

--

Flowrishin listened with quiet admiration to Irwin's song, his deep voice causing the ground below her to vibrate slightly while the beautiful howling sound of the unfamiliar instrument created an otherworldly song. Each strike was perfectly centered, with enough strength to cause the soulforce to warp. She had never been drawn to any of the three styles now being displayed, preferring the more systemic pattern ones. Still, she was able to use them in a limited fashion, enough to realize the mastery.

Although she wished Irwin had just given a simple lecture, she couldn't deny she was impressed with what she saw. She and all the teachers present were perfectly capable of reforging a quartz card, but what she saw now ignored any of the rules she thought implied. With powerful, exact strikes, the soulforce was forced to resonate with the song, which seemed overly complex for a mere quartz card.

Which said nothing about the speed.

In under ten minutes, the song ended on a high note, and the previously simple quartz card flickered, turning into a purple-bordered amethyst one.

I wonder if he will show us what he is fully capable of, she pondered.

--

"Now, one of the things to note when reforging from quartz to amethyst is that sideways reforging early on has a far greater effect towards the end," Irwin said as he turned from the anvil back to the teachers. 

They were all quiet, some looking stunned, others merely nodding as if he was showing something they had expected. A smaller group that sat to the side was writing things down rapidly.

"However," Irwin continued. "Because the card's soulforce resonance song or pattern is still very simple, it is easy to brute-force it and cause it to lose detail. This loss of detail will severely limit the potential directions. So, what I did with this card was only very slightly guide it along a path that wasn't its predisposed one."

"Very slightly?" someone exclaimed from the second row. "It felt like you had the card in a chokehold!"

Irwin looked at the older Oxarite, nodding at him.

"Teacher Borekliff, correct?"

"That's me," Borekliff answered gruffly. 

'I like him,' Ambraz said with a soft laugh. 'He also has some pretty high sensitivity if he could feel that.'

Irwin ignored the Ganvil, focusing on the older teacher.

"Guiding a card along its path will always be one of force," he said. "Leaving it any leeway or wiggle room will cause a runaway effect later on. If you plan on keeping this card at Topaz, this is fine. If you want to go further, you can under no circumstances allow inconsistencies to form."

Irwin knew from his talk with Flowrishin that this was one of the main issues why they had been stuck at Topaz. Besides that, reforging Topaz upward was a large step up in difficulty, as every tiny imperfection till that point was magnified, and every flaw in the smith's style caused a chain reaction of mistakes to happen. 

He turned back to the anvil and struck the card. The image of the candle flame had turned into a tight bundle of fire, while the shape below was longer and faintly resembled a stick or a sword.

"As you can see, I have changed two aspects of the card," Irwin said, "First, I made it more restrictive, so it won't work on any small object anymore but requires something elongated. I'll explain this later. Secondly, the flame is now far more powerful and condensed. The next step is to close those four holes so the card's soulforce won't drain away."

Hearing no more questions, he began playing and singing the next song.

Well, so far, they are calm enough, he thought.

--

Borekliff kept his hands clamped around his knees, forcefully holding back the questions he felt bubbling up. 

Why is he not striking those pinpricks first? How come they are still closing? How can he contain the sideways reverberations like that?

He took a deep breath as he sensed and saw the heat in the air manipulated with a control he knew he'd never be able to duplicate. It was as if four people were working at the same time, perfectly in sync.

Is this the benefit of combining multiple styles? He thought, wondering if he had been wrong for wanting to master his own style first. Had he been limiting himself?

The song changed in speed, and even though he wasn't one for music, he had to admit that it was catchy.

He was nodding along as he felt what this new Tutor was doing when the heat in the air began tilting sideways, reshaping into gradient patterns far too complex. 

What is he… he is sideways reforging it while upgrading to Topaz. How?! Why?!

He focused on the flowing bands of heat, the colors from yellow to red to purple, with hundreds of steps in between. He could do that on his best day, with perhaps half that many gradient steps. 

"Ridiculous," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Elder?"

He looked at Sandrax sitting next to him, eyes wide with disbelief.

"No questions. Pay attention!" he hissed, ignoring some glares from those around him.

Where did he even come from, and who were his teachers? he thought.

--

Irwin nodded as the card's border slowly turned Topaz. He knew full well that he had just gone beyond the best of what the teachers could do, so he looked up, knowing what he would see.

He was right. Far more than after his previous reforging, the teachers were staring at him in stunned wonder and awe. Part of it was because he'd just taken a step none of them could - reforge a card up and sideways; the other part was the speed at which he'd done that. Ten minutes to Amethyst and a bit over half an hour for Topaz. Part of that was because he was doing cards he'd done many times before, which were also the perfect fit for him. The other part was that the teachers were clearly not as well trained as they should be.

"The current state of this card is a hundred percent," Irwin said. "This means that because it had few holes and a lot of potential, we can continue without having to deal with any imperfections we ourselves introduced."

"How did you just casually reforge a card to Topaz in such a short time?" Borekliff shouted, rising from his seat, his face now as dark blue as the deep sea.

"Practice," Irwin said. "Also, having a high soulforce sensitivity and a stable soulscape helps a lot. Having cards that mesh well together and are of the type you are reforging."

Borekliff thudded back down in his seat, shaking his head.

"Are you saying all of our cards are what is holding us back?" he growled, shaking his head. 

"That and the choice of cards you have taken," Irwin said, scanning the other teacher. "You have two body improvement cards at Topaz, both naturally found. Your other cards are a mix of metal and utility, and one of them is an emerald natural found, while another is a topaz smith reforged. The last one is… highly unstable."

Borekliff's face paled to a blue-hued silver, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"You can sense that much?" he whispered. 

"I presume that the best cards for you to reforge are those dealing with metal?" Irwin asked.

"They are… Especially body improvement. I always thought it was because I'm an Oxarite."

"That helps," Irwin agreed, looking around, feeling slightly helpless when he saw the looks of stunned wonder from the others. "Did none of you know that the cards you slot influence your ability to reforge?"

A single hand rose at the back, and Irwin looked up to see it was Uvaran, the teacher Flowrishin said was the most likely to replace her in a few decades.

"There are stories in the older books about that, but with the lack of cards to choose from and the way the Grovelords and the other Nobles are hoarding the cards, using them to improve their armies, it's hard to find cards that mesh well," he said. "I did notice that I'm uncommonly good at fire cards for a Viridian, and I always thought it was because of my second card."

Irwin let his soulforce senses wash over the Viridian, and he instantly nodded.

"A naturally found, ruby-rank fire-typed card," he said. "And a strong one. Yes, you will have a large benefit when reforging fire cards."

"I have one slot left," Uvaran said, raising his right hand. "With what I have now, what would you suggest I take?"

Irwin frowned, realizing the conversation was slightly derailing the session. Still, he couldn't stop a grimace from appearing on his face.

"Nothing will fix those cards to mesh properly," he said. "I might be able to turn them into a heartcard, but-"

An uproar came from the teachers, who began shouting questions and requests and generally uttering their disbelief. Some teachers rose, and the general question Irwin heard was, 'You can make heartcards?' or a variant of it.

Irwin tried to answer a few times, but each time he began talking, the hubbub increased. He saw Headteacher Flowrishin glaring around angrily. Only the older teachers remained quiet, though, from Borekliff's clenched jaw, it was clear it wasn't easy.

"Quiet!" Irwin shouted, his voice snapping out like a giant whip.

The teachers fell quiet as one, some turning pale while others quickly sat down.

"How, exactly, do you expect me to answer anything if you all start shouting?" Irwin asked with a frown. "I thought you were supposed to be teachers, not students? Now, Headteacher, could you please explain what is going on?"

Flowrishin smiled wearily. "There are currently only a handful of smiths who can make heartcards, and none of them are here. They are either with a Grovelord or among the Council of Elders. Beyond that, even the best among them can only create a heartcard for very specific individuals. You just suggested that you don't have that issue, so… I think most of those who are still waiting for a heartcard or are unlikely to gain one just lost their canopy a bit."

Irwin nodded as he looked around. He noticed that many teachers were looking away, unwilling to meet his eyes, while a few others smiled sheepishly.

"We are not here to talk heartcards," Irwin said. "I'll discuss that with the Headteacher later. Are we clear?"

He looked pointedly at a few of those who shouted the loudest, and he got a round of nods.

"Good. Now, as I was saying, to reforge effectively, your own cards are paramount. If they don't match well, besides making combining them more painful and difficult than they should be, you will find that they can't be easily made into heartcards- if at all."

Irwin saw them all nod, and instead of going to the next step and showing them what could come after Topaz, he examined them one at a time. It didn't take him long to find that nearly all of them had horrible cards, some actually opposing each other. Only a handful, with Sandrax being one of them, had cards that seemed to mesh reasonably well. 

'How can they even reforge a card to begin with?' he asked Ambraz with his otherself. 'Some of them have so much dissonance without doing anything that it feels impossible.'

'No idea… But what I do know is that they somehow lost a lot of common knowledge. What you are telling them now is not hard to understand, and even back on Giard, your people knew it was best to have cards that complemented each other,' Ambraz replied, sounding worried. 'If I didn't know any better, I'd say someone actively destroyed this knowledge.'

'Guidar?' Irwin asked.

'It could be they did manage to get chained here, and they either used to or are still working behind the scenes,' Ambraz replied.

In the real world, Irwin saw some of the teachers share looks as he remained quiet.

Fine, if I want to teach them, I'm going to have to help them first, he decided. 

He focused on the different teachers, eventually looking at Borekliff. Although his cards weren't great, he had a few that matched well.

"Alright," Irwin said, looking at the Headteacher. "To teach even this much, we need to make a few changes. I think this will be enough for today because I'm going to need to prepare. Can we have a word in private?"

"What? We were told you would show us how to go beyond Topaz," one of the teachers exclaimed. 

Irwin looked back, shaking his head. "I could, but it is useless. There are only a few of you who have the proper soulforce balance to even attempt this."

A few of the teachers seemed ready to speak, but he raised his hand, cutting them off.

"Instead, I want you all to go home or to your classes or wherever and think about the following. For those of you who have a heartcard, which parts of your heartcard are you most in sync with, and which are a deterrent based on what you know now? For those who only have handcards and haven't yet bound them, take a good look at those cards. Which ones are causing a destabilization in your soulforce, and if you reforge, can you sense this happening?"

The teachers shared a few confused looks, but Irwin didn't really care. He'd expected far more, but now that he took a truly good look at them and recalled what the prospect smiths had done the day before, he realized he'd vastly overestimated the Cardschool's teachers. 

"Could you, you, you, and you remain behind, please?" he said, pointing at Uvaran, Borekliff, the Ignitzian teacher, and a young Viridian. "I have a question for you."

It took a short while to empty the large classroom, but eventually, only six people remained.

"Tutor Irwin, what did you want to talk about?" Headteacher Flowrishin asked.

"I can't teach you anything if your cards are actively holding you back," Irwin said. "So, with your permission… well, and their own, I will fix their cards."

"What are you talking about?" Borekliff asked, his thick blue metallic eyebrows lowering in a deep frown. "I have a heartcard! There's no fixing that."

Irwin nodded. "I was talking about them; I'll get to you after that."

Borekliff blinked, then snorted as he rolled his eyes.

"If you can help them, you have my blessing," headteacher Flowrishin said.

Irwin nodded and turned to the three younger smiths. They were the three who had the best start, having cards in their left hand that didn't actively harm them. There was, however, something they had to do.

"Then, for the three of you. If you are willing to unslot your cards, I'll help you get cards that will mesh with the three in your left hand to create a stable base. It should improve your current smithing by leaps and will allow you to learn what I have to teach."

Irwin had expected many things, but what he hadn't was the Ignitzian teacher raising her right hand, letting out a snarl, and ejecting two cards. She swayed, holding the cards up, glaring at them, before tossing them on the table.

"I'm game," she said, her voice cracking under the pain.

"I meant later," Irwin hissed as he walked forward, extending his soulforce to wrap around her, trying to stabilize her suddenly harshly fluctuating soulforce.

"Oh… right," she muttered as her eyes rolled up in her sockets.

Irwin caught her just in time before looking around.

"You two better not do that," he snapped. 

Sandrix and the female Viridian shook their head, looking slightly pale.

"Good, now get her somewhere safe," he said, walking to Sanrix and handing the unconscious teacher to him. "As soon as she wakes up, please bring her to the Audumn Estate."

"Yes, Tutor Irwin," Sanrix said. He inclined his head to Flowrishin before quickly walking out of the classroom. The Viridian teacher followed him, closing the door behind her.

Borekliff let out a dull laugh, shaking his head.

"Those Ignitzians really are so hotheaded," he grunted. 

Irwin fully agreed but kept that to himself. "Now, I asked the two of you to remain behind because if I am to teach the teachers, I'll need some help."

Flowrishin looked at him quietly before raising a leafy eyebrow. "I don't think either of us is able to help you with that. Both Borekliff and I have probably among the worst cards of everyone here."

Borekliff snorted but didn't disagree.

"I know," Irwin said as he cracked his neck. "How do you two think about getting a new, improved heartcard?"